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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22446040">whatever helps you sleep at night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/akisawana/pseuds/akisawana'>akisawana</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Bedsharing, Electricity, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Kink, Mistakes were made, Mostly Platonic, a surprising lack of eye gore, extended chest bump, not my fault canon did it, spoilers for 7x12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:33:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>470</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22446040</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/akisawana/pseuds/akisawana</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Cardioversion is the procedure by which an abnormal heart rate is is converted to a normal rhythm using electricity or medication.</p>
<p>There is no medication here, no magic to fix what was broken, no drugs to dull the pain.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>whatever helps you sleep at night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Note the first: author does not condone nor condemn the actions of any characters in this fic, or in canon.</p>
<p>Note the second: tagged as well as i ever do, probably missed something, consider this your warning.</p>
<p>Note the third: if i am to be the door-to-door kink salesman from hell, i will be the best goddamn one on the planet.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ironwood's hands on Qrow's bare chest, both metal now, Qrow's breath quick against his fingers and his heart hammering fast and faster, Ironwood's thumb making small circles as he watches Qrow's face, reads all Qrow is afraid to say in his eyes. Waits and waits for the right moment, and his hands so cold against Qrow's skin and Qrow isn't nearly as terrified as he should be, desperate, desperate, the crack of lightning blue over Ironwood's fingers, in Ironwood's eyes, matching the cracks running through Qrow's shattered heart.<br/>
<br/>
And when it will help, that half-second where it won't cause more pain than it cures, Ironwood slams the electricity through Qrow's body, stops Qrow's heart as his back arcs up into Ironwood's hands, the quiet and the peace almost something to keep.<br/>
<br/>
Qrow falls back onto the mattress, his heart still bruised and battered in the cage of his bones, still fragile and bleeding, broken-winged bird desperate to protect the children at all costs, anything to keep them safe. But it's steadier under Ironwood's hands now, no longer trapped in the ever tightening spiral choking fit to burst, no longer frozen in his throat.<br/>
<br/>
Ironwood's hands stroking down his skin, so soft, tracing the lattice of his aura, skimming around the edges of bruises, his body heavy as armor across Qrow's thighs, his mouth brushing a kiss between Qrow's brows, over the tears dried on his cheeks.<br/>
<br/>
Pressing into his skin <em>I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.</em><br/>
<br/>
They didn't have any better choices, the two of them, and now they have to live with what they did.<br/>
<br/>
"I worked with Tyrian," Qrow confesses, "But I never wanted him <em>dead.</em>"<br/>
<br/>
Ironwood looks Qrow in the eye when he says, "I declared martial law and abandoned Mantle." But he has to close his eyes and swallow before offering his too-thin justification, "Ten thousand priceless lives to save ten million."<br/>
<br/>
"If he'd just, <em>listened</em>," Qrow says to Ironwood's shoulder and Ironwood mumbles against Qrow's neck, "If someone else had cared about Mantle <em>earlier</em>."<br/>
<br/>
Qrow's back arches again, his body pressing itself against Ironwood's chest, Ironwood's arms under the curve of his spine to hold him close and Qrow's voice so quiet as he says, "I didn't think I needed my sword 'cause I wasn't going to kill him."<br/>
<br/>
And Ironwood's voice even quieter, "I knew there was no keeping you away from your girls."<br/>
<br/>
Ironwood's precarious balance fails and they end up on their sides, nobody on top nobody underneath, braided together. Purple bruises and salt-dried white, blood sticky on their hands and stiff in black-grey hair.<br/>
<br/>
One of them whispers, "We fucked up," and the other agrees, "Yeah, we did."<br/>
<br/>
One admits, "I panicked," and the other says, "So did I."<br/>
<br/>
One says, "I'm sorry," one says, "I know."<br/>
<br/>
Neither asks forgiveness.<br/>
<br/>
Neither dares.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading.</p>
<p>At least it's not heroin.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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